Last and sole-retaining device therefor.



M. E. FERNALD.

LAST AND SOLE RETAINING DEVICE THEREFOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28. I918.

1,28%,883. Patented Nov. 12, 1918.

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MARK E. FERNALD, OF SAUGUS,'MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNGR TO C. C. BLAKE, INCOR- PORATED, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Application filed February 28,1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, MARK E. FERNALD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Saugus, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Last and Sole-Retaining Devices Therefor, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

In my pending application Serial No. 22,312, filed April 19, 1915, I described and claimed a nail retaining device designed to be used in the bottoms of lasts to receive the nails or tacks which hold the sole on the tread face of the last in the early stages of the manufacture of a shoe. Devices of this kind are sometimes used also in the heel end of a last to receive the tack that holds the upper on the last after the assembling operation has been completed. These devices are designed to prevent'the splintering of the lasts which otherwise would be produced by the continued driving of tacks into them and the pulling of the tacks out again at a subsequent point in the manufacture of shoes on the lasts.

The present invention aims to improve the sole retaining device disclosed in my earlier application with a view particularly to reducing the manufacturing cost and facilitating the marketing of these devices and the mounting of them in lasts. The invention also aims to produce these results without sacrificing any of the advantages characteristic of the invention disclosed in the said application.

The manner in which it is proposed to accomplish these objects will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a last. in inverted position. with a sole secured thereto and equipped with sole retaining devices embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical, cross sectional view on a large scale through one of the sole retaining devices shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view similar to Fig. 2, but at right angles thereto;

Specification of Letters Patent.

LAST AND SQLE-RETAINING DEVICE THEREFOR.

Patented Nov. 12, 1918.

Serial No. 219,604.

Fig. 4 is an angular view of the nail gripping device and the holder therefor;

Fig. 5 is an angular view of the nail gripping device;

Fig. 6 is an angular view of the blank from which the holder is formed;

Fig. 7 is an angular view of the cover plate for the socketin which the nail retaining device is positioned; and

Fig. 8 is an angular view of a blank from which a holder of somewhat different construction is formed; and

Fig. 9 is'an angular view of the nail grip ping device positioned in this modified holder.

Fig. 1 of the drawings shows a last 1 having a sole 2 secured to the tread face thereof by means of nails or tacks 3. Each nail 3, instead of being driven into the wood of the last, is held by a retaining device that comprises a nail gripping member 4, a holder 5 for said member and a cover plate 6. This device is positioned in a socket 7 bored in the tread face of the last.

The nail gripping member 4 preferably consists of a strip of spring metal bent into a U-shape, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The slot 8 formed between the legs of this member constitutes a nail recei ing passage and is made narrower than are the nails that it is to receive. The holder 5 is made from a blank of the form shown in Fig. 6 and consists of a base having two short arms 9 formed on opposite sides thereof and two longer arms 10 formed at the opposite ends of the base. All of these arms are bent up at right angles to the base and provide be tween them a rectangular space in which the nail gripping member is positioned, as shown in Fig. 4. Each of the arms 10 is shouldered near its end, and an extension 11 projects above the shoulder, these shoulders lying substantially in the same horizontal plane as the upper ends of the arms 9. The cover plate 6 is shaped to fit snugly in the outer end of the socket 7 and is provided with notches 12 in its opposite edges into which the extensions 11 fit. The bottom of the cover thus rests on the upper ends of the arms 9 and on the shoulders formed at the bases of the extensions 11. After this cover has been positioned in this manner the extensions 11 are riveted over to secure the cover firmly to the holder. The cover is provided with an aperture or nail passage l3, and the base of the holder 5 is provided with a similar passage 14:, these passages bein in alinement with each other and also wlth' the slot 8 in the nail gripping device 4.

The nail retaining device when assembled in the manner just described forms a unit that can be conveniently marketed. In order to facilitate the mounting of this device in a last and to provide for securing it firmly in its operative position without the use of separate fastening means, the holder 5 is provided with tour prongs 15. The blank from which this device is made preferably is stamped out of sheet metal, the arms 9 and 10 and the prongs 15 being formed in the stamping operation. The blank is later shaped by means of suitable dies. as will be understood by those skilled in this art, to bend the arms 9 and 10 into the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 4 and also to turn the prongs 15 downwardly, as shown in said figure. These prongs are so shaped and are made of such a length that, after the retaining device is completed, they all lie within a circle having a diameter equal to that of the socket in which the device is to be mounted in the last. Consequently, when this device is placed in the socket 7 and is pressed or driven in until the cover 6 is flush with the tread face of the last, the engagement of the curved prongs 15 with the bottom of the socket will straighten or distort them. this action causing them to spread out or expand until they are embedded in the lateral walls of the socket 7 sufliciently to anchor them securely in the wood of the last. Since the holder 5 and the plate 6 are rigid with the prongs 15, the anchoring of them in the socket secures the entire retaining device in its operative position.

When a nail similar to that indicated at 3 is driven through a sole and through the aperture 13 in the cover plate 6, it wedges apart the legs of the U-shaped member 4 and, it long enough, passes through the hole 14 in the holder 5 into a hole 16 drilled in the last in line with the holes 13 and 14. The rip of the member 4 on the shank of the nail and the engagement of this member with the other parts of the device holds the nail as securely as it would be held if it were driven directly into the wood. At the same time this device avoids the injury to the last which is caused by the continued driving of tacks and nails into the last and their subsequent removal from the last.

Fig. 9 shows a somewhat difi'erent construction of a holder for the nail gripping member 4. This holder is made out of :1

blank 16 of the form shown in Fig. 8, the end portions of this blank being turned or bent upward at right angles to the central portion and the two pairs of arms, 17 and 18, respectively, at the opposite ends of the blank then being bent toward each other into the positions in which they are shown in Fig.9. These arms thus form a casing or inclosure within which the member 4 is confined. The central portion of the blank is provided with'arms 19 that are beveled or sharpened to form prongs 20, and these prongs are bent slightly downward, as are the prongs 15 of theconstructions shown in Figs. 4 and 6, so that they can be embedded in the wood of the last and anchor the holder in the socket 7 in the same manner that the prongs 15 anchor the holder 5. This holder also is provided with short extensions 21, corresponding to the parts 11 of the holder 5, which receive the cover-plate 6 and secure it to the holder.

It is obvious that these devices can be manufactured very economically and that they can be mounted in their operative positions in a last bottom at only a trifling expense. It will also be understood that the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be modified in many particulars without departing from the spirit or scop ot' the invention.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A nail retaining device for a last, comprising a spring member constructed to grip the shank of a nail. and a holder for said member provided with expansible anchoring means designed to secure said device in its operative position in a last.

2. A nail retaining device for a last, comprising a spring member constructed to grlp the shank of a nail, and a holder for said member provided with eXpansible anchoring means designed to secure said device in its operative position in a last.

3. A nail retaining device designed to be mounted in a socket in a last, comprising a nail gripping member, and a holder for said member having prongs arranged to be d1storted by engagement with the bottom of said socket and thereby anchor said device in the last.

4. A nail retaining device for a last, comprising a nail gripping member, and a holder for said member having prongs curved to permit the placing of said device in a socket in a last and constructed to be straightened after being placed in the socket and thereby embedded in the wall of said socket.

5. A nail retaining device for a last. comprising a nail gripping member, a holder for said member and a cover plate secured to said holder.

6. A last having a socket therein, and a nail retaining device positioned in said socket and comprising a nail gripping member, a holder for said member, and a cover plate for said socket rigidly secured to said holder, said cover plate and holder being provided with nail receiving passages in line With said member.

7. A last having a socket therein, and a nail retaining device positioned in said socket and comprising a nail gripping member, a holder for said member having a plurality of arms between which the member is positioned, and a cover plate for said socket secured on said arms.

8. A last having a socket therein, and a &

nail retaining device positioned in said socket-and comprising a member having a nail passage formed therethrough and constructed to grip the shank of a nail, a holder for said member having a plurality of arms between which the member is positioned and provided with parts that lock said device in said socket, and a cover plate for said socket secured on said arms, said cover plate and holder being provided with nail passages in line With the nail passage in said member.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

MARK E. FERNALD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

